Archive

Workflow is the automation of a business procedure, during which it specifies how content (document, information or tasks) is routed for review/approval from one participant to other, before it is released to the system. Users are notified by e-mail when they have some content to review.

Role of Workflows in business:

Workflows help to streamline the business process.Reduced time, fewer mistakes and improved quality of work. Information about the task readily available at any point of time.

Uses:

Improved change management.

Improved services and management.

Inter-Organization communications.

Reduces operating costs.

Improved productivity by automating routine and repetitive tasks.

Every workflow has a number of logical steps. This is called as an Activity. An Activity could involve manual interaction or can use machine resources. Activity involving manual interaction is called as a Manual activity. Manual activity has a performer. Activity which doesn’t require manual intervention is called as an Auto activity. It’s performed using machine resources.

Flows are the connectors. They connect the activities. They also specify the sequence of activities. Workflows may be parallel or serial. In serial workflow, tasks follow one after another in a sequence. In parallel workflow, two or more activities can happen concurrently.

Steps to create a workflow:

Once the business process is known, before creating the workflow, answer these questions for a better workflow design.

(Plan the workflow using the following points)

1. Who initiates the workflow?

§ The person going to initiate or start the workflow should have ‘relate permission’ on the workflow template to start the workflow.

2. Decide which activities are going to be manual activities and which are auto activities

§ Whether activities will be performed in serial or parallel

3. Who is going to perform the manual activities?

§ Whether its going to be a specific user, a group, or some number of performers from a group will be included in the decision making process,

§ Whether the performers will be chosen at runtime or will the performer name be hard coded in the workflow template.

4. When does an activity start?

§ When an activity has more than one incoming flow, you can specify how many activities should complete before this activity begins. This is the trigger for an activity.

5. What are the activities that happen next?

§ How is the next activity chosen? Whether the performer chooses the next activity, or all the activities connected to this one is chosen, or the next activity can be chosen based on some conditions.

6. What documents are passed along the activities?

Some documents will be passes along these activities, on which some actions are performed. Packages can be added, through flow inspector connecting the two activities.

Given below is a sample workflow.

This workflow depicts a scenario of bank, wherein the concerned department receives application for loans, the loan papers are sent for review to the manager who then decides whether to grant the loan.

Now, let’s answer these questions for the above scenario.

1. Who initiates the workflow? – The clerk who receives the loan application from the customers. He/She should be given relate permission on the workflow. When a new loan application is received and it needs an approval from the manager, the clerk applies a workflow on the loan application.

2. Decide which are going to be manual activities and auto activities:

Manual activities include a task where in the manager approves or rejects the loan. Auto Activity will include the business logic when the loan is rejected or approved. We can call the Review activity by the manager as a manual activity.

3. Who is going to perform the manual activity? – The performer has to be decided. Manager would be the performer. Instead of hard coding the manager id in the performer name, the performer could be chosen at runtime by the initiator. (This makes the workflow template more reusable.)

4. What will trigger an activity in the workflow? – The next activity depends in the action taken by the performer. If approved, ‘Approve Loan’ activity will be triggered, else if rejected, ‘Reject Loan’ activity would be triggered.

5. What documents are passed along the activities? – The documents passed along the activities in this case could be the loan papers, and other documents required in the process of Loan sanction.

This is the workflow template for the above given scenario.

‘Review’ is a manual activity. (The option, the activity’s work is performed: By one more manual performers is chosen)

To select the performer, click on the select performer tab.

While selecting performers, Select option ‘some users from a group’, if there are many managers who review the document. Or select ‘single user from a group’, if the task will be sent to only one manager for review.

The Option ‘Multiple sequential performers’ will send tasks to the reviewers in serial fashion.

To choose the reviewer at runtime, select the option, ‘Have performer(s) of activity <Choose the activity here> determine performer(s) of this activity’.

Transition tab is to specify which activities should be started next. The option ‘Let the activity’s performer choose’

If there are three reviewers, and if the task is sent in parallel, and two of the three reviewers approve, and one reviewer rejects the loan, then we can chose either reject activity as the next activity, or approve activity as the next activity, as per the requirement.

Reject Loan is an auto activity. When a loan is rejected, the business logic is written in a java class, and that java class will be specified in the section, Execute this method automatically.

To get a method in this dropdown, create a method in DocApp, select option use as workflow method. To set up a java method as a workflow method, click here

Auto activity is executed using some permission. There are 4 options to choose from. The auto activity will execute depending on these permissions.

Review complete activity is another manual activity, which notifies the workflow supervisor that the workflow is complete. Again this activity solely depends on the requirement.

Flow inspector is used to pass the necessary documents between two activities.

To add a document, click on ‘Add New package’ and enter respective name and package type to be routed through the activities.

To set up a new JAVA method to run as an automatic Workflow method:

Create a method using DocApp with the following attributes.

Name: Method Name

Command: <classpath> or <classname>

Place the resultant class file where the Java run time on the Content Server machine can find it.

E.g.: 1) package.com.cs.server.classname- the class file should be present in the package.

2) Classname- the class file should be present in \dba\java_methods.

Run synchronously: True

(Time out in seconds)

Minimum: 60

Default: 100

Maximum: 300

Run as Server: True.

Trace launch: True

Use Method Server: True

Launch directly: False.

Use as workflow method: True.

You must check the option ‘Use as workflow method’ to make this method available for use in workflow templates. When “Use as workflow method” is set to “True”, the attribute “a_special_app” will be set to workflow. In order to have a custom method available for use in an Activity in Workflow Manager, the attribute, ‘a_special_app’ must be set to workflow.

Setting “Trace launch” to “True” in the method attributes will allow you to see this debug information printed to the server log, log4j.log. This can be used for debugging purposes.

Now, the created .class file should be placed in any of these two locations. As specified in command attribute of DocApp method.

1. package.com.cs.server.classname – the class files should be present in the given hierarchy.

2. The class file should be present in <DM_HOME>\dba\java_methods

The java class file should contain “acquire()” and “complete()” methods for it to run as an Automatic workflow method.

acquire(): Acquires a work item for the current user.

Work items are tasks in the workflow. After a work item appears in a performer’s inbox, the performer must acquire the work item before beginning work on the item. The user issuing this method must be the work item’s performer, the workflow supervisor, or a user with Sysadmin or Superuser privileges.

Executing this methods changes information in the queue item associated with the work item

complete(): Marks a work item as finished.

The user issuing this method must be the work item’s performer, the workflow supervisor, or a user with Sysadmin or Superuser privileges. The work item must be in the acquired state. If the method is successful, it sets the work item’s state to finished. Executing this method changes information in the queue item associated with the work item

ARBITRARY

In addition to reliability, here are 5 reasons why WordPress is the best platform for any
online business:

1. Free. If you have never heard about open source software, you might be wondering why something as great as WordPress is free. WordPress is free because it has been developed by a worldwide community of developers, who do it as a hobby and because they love the open source spirit. Not only WordPress itself is free but also most of its themes and plugins are free, which means that you can create a really rocking site for free.
2. Easy to use. Ease of use is another reason why WordPress is a great choice for an online platform. This means that someone with little experience will be able to deal with WordPress with no or just a little help from the pros.
3. Secure. As far as online business is concerned, security is of the greatest importance. If your platform is insecure, this is a threat to everything you do and you just can’t afford to go for an insecure platform. Fortunately, in regards to security, WordPress tops the list. It is true that there is no unhackable software and nobody can guarantee you that even with the most stringent security measures your WordPress site will never be hacked but it does make a difference whether you install a security fortress or an easy target for a beginner hacker.
4. Highly customizable. You will certainly want your online platform to have a unique look. With WordPress this is easy to achieve. There are thousands of themes you can choose from and thousands of plugins to add in order to get exactly the functionality you need. If you are a web designer and/or web developer, you can also use existing themes and plugins and modify them exactly to your liking. Not many other CMS offer such customization freedom!
5. Great community. Last, but not least, another reason why WordPress is such a great online platform is its community. The forums at WordPress.org and the other WordPress-related sites contain tons of threads about everything WordPress-related. Additionally, almost always when you are stuck with a problem and ask for help, knowledgeable and skillful WordPress gurus rush to your help. The WordPress community is simply great and you should experience it yourself.

WordPress is a top CMS. It is easy to start using, yet it is powerful and you can build your site exactly the way you dreamed it. If you have never tried WordPress, get it today and try it out. Just don’t forget to browse through wordpress hosting guides to see which WordPress hosts that are worth dealing with and which aren’t. WordPress is reliable and secure but a poor web host is more than it can stand, so don’t take any chances.

EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.